It took me three hours earlier today to go through all 114 of my friends to find new blog postings. I really hope the Web Nerds create some sort of system where we can know about new blog postings...otherwise people just aren't going to have enough time to keep up with everyone.

My last blog was David-centric, and this one is going to be more Me-centric. But David will still be mentioned! In fact, I'm going to try to mention David in all of my blogs...even in ones that seem completely unrelated to him. I'll fit him in somehow.

I've been thinking a lot lately about friendship. People say you *need* friends...but is that really true? I say this because my family has this odd quality about us, in that we never seem to have friends. My mother only has one friend (and she lives on the other side of the country), my father only has one friend, my sister only has one friend, and I don't really have any friends. That's unless you count my coworkers, who I only see at work.

This makes me wonder if there's something wrong with my family. I mean, isn't it odd that no one in my immediate family has more than one friend? My mom says it's because of our personalities. We all have Type-A personalities, and don't take crap from anyone. We tell it like it is and stick to our guns...and don't really care what people think about us. But gosh (TM Archie), I'm sure there are plenty of other people like that in the world, and they have friends, don't they?

My own theory, one which applies only to myself, is that I'm just not friend materia. And that's because I seem to completely lack any and all forms of compassion. Frankly, I'm rather hard-hearted. If someone I know dies, my response is: "Oh Ok. That's too bad." The end. And this applies to family members, too. When my uncle died suddenly a few years ago, my entire family was crying around me as I sat there stone-faced. It was incredibly awkward. As a result of this quirk of mine, I think people see me as someone who cares only about herself and no one else. And I'm not entirely sure that's the case. I just don't show my emotions as much as other people do.

And this is where David comes in. I really envy him for being able to show emotion like he does. I mean, we all know that it doesn't take much to get the waterworks going. I think seeing someone cry reminds us of their humanity...since one thing that separates us from other beings is our ability to show emotion. My family often tells me they almost see me as some sort of automaton...because nothing ever gets to me, and nothing ever makes me show much emotion. So I love that David is able to do that.

David also seems like a very compassionate person. He really cares about his family, his friends, his fans...and people he doesn't even know (ex. Lindsey Rose). This is a quality I wish I possessed. But I just don't. And I don't think I ever *could* possess it. I mean, how does one *learn* to be compassionate? How does one *learn* to show emotion. Seems impossible to me.

I think I'll end right there for today. I'll be in Dallas for the next couple of days, so you won't see me around the forum this weekend. But I'll be back on Monday.